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Island sewing community answers nurses' call for scrub caps

Island nurses showcase their new scrub caps, made by the Cloth Castle sewing group and the local community: (Cloth Castle / Facebook)

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VICTORIA --
Supporting our frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic has become something many people have made part of their daily routine on Vancouver Island.

It may be banging pots, pans and making noise at 7 p.m. every night or putting up hearts and signs in front windows to show doctors, nurses and first responders how much their effort means to the community.

So when a local nurse put out the call for some specialized scrub caps to be made, the community didn’t disappoint.

Last week, Selina Hebig, a local health-care worker, put out a request to the Cloth Castle in Langford – a local sewing and quilt shop, for scrub caps to be made by the local sewing community.

Hebig told the Cloth Castle that nurse managers from both the Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General Hospital were reaching out with a project to get scrub caps sewn for nurses. The caps needed to have buttons along the side to attach to a face mask.

“As you can imagine, the morale has been down, and she (the manager) is looking for a way to not only protect from infection and keep nurses safe, but to provide a sense of belonging, joy and positivity,” read Hebig’s note to the Cloth Castle.

Hebig says the caps are important because it keeps nurses’ hair protected and out of their faces, and because it protects their ears from skin irritation and breakdown from wearing masks all day.

The specialized caps also help nurses avoid touching their skin when putting on and removing face masks.

Hebig asked for 150 or more scrub caps to be made.

The sewing community was given some patterns to follow and the Cloth Castle marked down the price of several bolts of high-quality cotton to make the caps with.

The response from the community was amazing, according to the Cloth Castle. In less than a week, 88 nurse caps with buttons were made by locals.

They were washed, ironed and individually wrapped and delivered Sunday.

The nurses “LOVED” them, said Hebig.

“The response at the hospital was overwhelming,” she said. “Everything from nurses, doctors, housekeepers, food delivery – it brought happiness to all. And I have many friends on other floors at the hospital that want them!"⠀

Hebig says there is still a need for more caps and is hoping the community will continue to deliver.

For more information on how you can help out, check out the Cloth Castle’s Facebook page here or the Cloth Castle's website here.

If you have any questions, or to arrange pick ups and drop offs of caps, please contact Selena Hebig at sewingscrubcaps@gmail.com